On Pedagogy 15 Minute (Non?)Workshop

Lowest-Threshold Intro to Pedagogy for Higher Education
Apologies for Over-Simplification

I. How views of society and education shape each other

• John Dewey: Democratic society needs well-educated citizens who can think critically and solve problems. Memorization is not enough.
• Paolo Freire, et al., Critical Pedagogy: "...go beneath surface of any action, event, object, process, organization, experience,
  text, subject matter, policy, mass media, or discourse."
  
  

II. How views of human nature can/should influence decisions about teaching and learning

• Authentic Teaching: Spirituality, Humanity, Existentialism: Parker Palmer, Art Chickering, et al.
  
• Constructivism: "1. Knowledge is actively constructed by the learner, not passively received from the environment. and 2. Coming to know is a process of adaptation based on and constantly modified by a learner's experience of the world." - Excerpts from "Constructivism and Teaching...," Barbara Jaworski, available as of 7/9/2007 at: http://www.grout.demon.co.uk/Barbara/chreods.htm

III. How to structure teaching and learning - for large numbers of teachers, learners

• Bloom's Taxonomy: A hierarchical classification of different objectives and skills that educators set for students (learning objectives) in three "Domains": Affective, Psychomotor, and Cognitive.

• Instructional Design & Learning Objects
• Assessment
  
  

IV. How to use findings from some sciences and educational research

• Educational Psychology, Cognitive Science, Learning Sciences [e.g., Bransford]
• Multiple Intelligences: "human beings have ... different kinds of intelligence that reflect different ways of interacting with the world. Each person has a unique combination, or profile." - Howard Gardner
• Findings from educational research - Ehrmann
  

V. How to improve "classroom" teaching [without much theory]

• "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Higher Education": Teachers can learn specific instructional principles and related techniques to guide the incremental improvement of their own teaching and their students' learning. [See also Cooperative and Collaborative Learning; Team-Learning/Teaching/Work: Barbara Millis, et al.]

• Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs): Teachers elicit feedback from students 'during a class meeting that can be used by the teacher to improve teaching and learning

• Low-Threshold Applications/Activities (LTAs): Enable faculty members to begin using some new ways of improving teaching and learning with low anxiety, quick and easy initial mastery, and high expectations of success.

• "3 Ways to Reach 3 Quarters": Offer the information in three different ways to get some information through to at least 75% of a group

• POD, NISOD

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Guidelines for 15 Minute Modules	Content Outline for this 15-Min Pedagogy Workshop	Script for this 15-Min Pedagogy Workshop	Technology to be used in this 15-Min Pedagogy Workshop
Setting Expectations Presentation Intro 5-Minute eClip Interaction Assessment Follow-Through Optional: Play "Father Guido Sarducci's Five Minute University" - Just under 5 minutes More...	Why I care, why you care Main Pedagogical Theories Before, during, after class meeting Tools and technology built into classrooms Tools and technology brought into classroom by faculty, students Tools and technology used within classroom that are located elsewhere (e.g., online) More...	Hand-Out - 1-Pager with URL for this Google Doc and possibly a Web page - includes acknowledgement of list of References and Resources included here (below) Speak1 Intro, orientation, why I care, why you should care, how this is only a bare-bones, minimal intro with options for learning more if and when you're ready; working definition of "pedagogy"; why focus on theories here (instead of techniques, technologies) Play eClip - 5-Minute Course on Theories of Education Activity dkdkdkd Assessment dkdkdkdkd Follow-Through dkdkdkdk To be done...	Desk arrangement SmartBoard + Speakers YouTube 5-Minute eClips PowerPoint Microphone LecShare Pro Brief Hybrid Workshops Flashlight Online FridayLive! Adobe Connect Google Docs Google Pages Google Labs Google Page Creator: Start Google Page Account Steve Gilbert Google Home Page Thumb drive [$19 for 2 gigabytes with key ring 7/6/07] More...

Pedagogy: Educational Theories, Models, Ideas

Introduction
Many faculty members and academic support professionals find that teaching and learning can be improved significantly by using some of the following ideas. However, teaching or learning well does not depend on understanding or accepting any one of these theories - consciously or explicitly. Many highly regarded teachers use them - sometimes brilliantly - without conscious effort or awareness. And a few other faculty members seem highly successful in ways that don't fit well in any of these categories.

Here are brief introductions (perhaps oversimplifications) of some of the best known educational theories, models.

Each of these theories or models seems helpful to some faculty members and to some who support faculty members' instructional work. It is beyond the scope of this brief introduction to offer these in any particular order or with any great clarify about when and for whom they might be most useful. No one has proven that any one of these theories or models is superior to most others for most purposes in most situations. No one who embraces one of these has convinced many proponents of the other theories to change their minds. In fact, it often seems that the advocates of any one of the following are either unaware of the others or don't take them very seriously.

One view is to place these theories/models on a very crude scale that runs from delivery to engagement. Delivery models reflect beliefs that the essential activity of education in some areas is to move information from one person to others. Engagement models reflect beliefs that the essential activity of education in some areas is to establish meaningful relationships among teachers, learners, and whatever is to be taught and learned.

There are two valid reasons for ignoring all of these pedagogies entirely:
1. You are so overloaded with other work that you cannot spare the time to learn about these ideas and the techniques and technologies that are available to implement them.
2. You are one of the few truly gifted teachers - having a rare combination of skills, personality, and depth of knowledge about your subject that fits remarkably well with the nature of your institution and the characteristics of your students.

Otherwise, you might benefit from learning more about some of the following pedagogies that seem best-suited to your own views about teaching and learning, about human nature, about the needs and goals of your students, and about the kinds of resources available to you and your colleagues.

Specific Educational Theories, Models [Pedagogies]
(Some have a flavor of faith in a particular view of human nature, of values, of the universe... Psychology? Anthropology? Cosmology? Theology?)

Low (Not Lowest) Threshold Intro to Pedagogy for Higher Education

John Dewey "...greater emphasis should be placed on the broadening of intellect and development of problem solving and critical thinking skills, rather than simply on the memorization of lessons" - from Wikipedia entry (see below). "...one's present experience is a function of the interaction between one's past experiences and the present situation. For example, my experience of a lesson, will depend on how the teacher arranges and facilitates the lesson, as well my past experience of similar lessons and teachers." - from "500 Word Summary of Dewey’s 'Experience & Education'" - See ref below. by James Thomas Neill, Centre for Applied Psychology, University of Canberra
So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on Dewey's ideas of progressive education and democracy: When establishing, confirming or revising institutional mission; reviewing and revising general education requirements and curricula.

Faculty Development: "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Higher Education," Classroom Assessment Techniques, LTAs (Low-Threshold Applications and Activities), and "3 Ways to Reach 3 Quarters"
"Seven Principles" was the best-known, most widely respected meta-study of educational research in the past three decades. The results offered seven principles for improving the kind of teaching and learning that moves beyond traditional lecture/delivery. From the original article (see below for ref.), here are the "Seven Principles:

"Good practice in undergraduate education:

1. encourages contact between students and faculty,
2. develops reciprocity and cooperation among students,
3. encourages active learning,
4. gives prompt feedback,
5. emphasizes time on task,
6. communicates high expectations, and
7. respects diverse talents and ways of learning."

"Classroom Assessment Techniques" are among the best-known and widely respected collections of very specific activities designed for use by teachers in a wide variety of courses - especially to elicit feedback from students 'during a class meeting that can be used by the teacher to improve teaching and learning almost immediately and quite visibly. See reference below to work of Cross & Angelo.
The POD Network and NISOD are two well-known professional organizations for academic support professionals and faculty members who help faculty colleagues improve their teaching and their students' learning. POD focuses more on 4-year colleges and universities while NISOD focuses more community colleges.

Low-Threshold Applications and Activities (LTAs) is both an approach and a growing collection of resources designed to enable faculty members to begin using some new ways of improving teaching and learning with low anxiety, quick and easy initial mastery, and high expectations of success. The LTA approach is intended to help those who work with overloaded faculty members who are on the threshold of first-time use of some new approach to teaching and learning. Those thresholds often appear formidable - too time-consuming and risky. The LTA approach identifies specific small improvements that have low incremental cost in money, time, and stress. Developed originally by Steven W. Gilbert of the TLT Group.

"3 Ways to Reach 3 Quarters" - Given current conditions of too much information, too many options, and too little time (TMI/TMO/TLT), if a trainer, leader, teacher, or communicator needs to get some information through to at least 75% of a group, then it is a good idea to offer the information in three different ways. [Under construction July, 2007: Todd Zakrajsek of Central Michigan University and Steven W. Gilbert of the TLT Group]

So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Higher Education," Classroom Assessment Techniques, LTAs (Low-Threshold Applications and Activities), and "3 Ways to Reach 3 Quarters": When helping new or experienced teachers who want to make some improvements but who are not yet interested in more nuanced or elaborate theories to go along with new teaching practices. When helping experienced teachers who are ready to build on their lecture/presentation skills to improve their students' learning and engagement.

Bloom's Taxonomy, is a hierarchical classification of different objectives and skills that educators set for students (learning objectives). 3 "Domains": Affective, Psychomotor, and Cognitive. Implies both a holistic approach (include all 3 domains) and very structured ordering of learning activities - building on "lower level" prerequisites. Related to developmental views that some kinds of human learning depend on the learner having already achieved a certain stage of development (see, e.g., work of Piaget).
So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on Bloom's Taxonomy and developmental approaches:
Clarify goals for learners on 3 dimensions (affective, psychomotor, cognitive). Structure information and activities so that learners will master pre-requisite lower level activities before encountering higher level ones. Views differ on whether or not learners must progress through developmental stages in order and which kinds of development might be accelerated or slowed by educational activities.

Instructional Design & Learning Objects. Instructional Design is the practice of developing and arranging media to facilitate the delivery of knowledge most effectively: determining the current state of learner understanding, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating some media-based "intervention" to assist. "Learning Objects" are characteristic of an approach that believes that small chunks of instructional resources can be developed, cataloged, and made available for effective re-use - perhaps with some adaptation - by other teachers and learners under somewhat similar circumstances. Very little attention to possible differences among teachers or learners other than narrowly intellectual. Also see "First Exposure" approach by Tom Laughner of Smith College and Barbara Walvoord- (both formerly of Notre Dame University)
So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on Instructional Design & Learning Objects:

Educators and publishers who focus on developing and promoting the use of instructional materials that take advantage of various interactive media options beyond books and that can be shared among and used by a wide variety of teachers and a wide variety of students.


Educational Psychology, Cognitive Science, Learning Sciences - Applying research about how humans learn individually or in groups - including classrooms - to planning, developing, and using instructional resources and strategies. See below for reference to Bransford book that attempts to bring many research strands together and draw some inferences for guiding future educational activities.
So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on Educational Psychology, Cognitive Science, Learning Sciences:

Critical Pedagogy "Habits of thought, reading, writing, and speaking which go beneath surface meaning, first impressions, dominant myths, official pronouncements, traditional clichés, received wisdom, and mere opinions, to understand the deep meaning, root causes, social context, ideology, and personal consequences of any action, event, object, process, organization, experience, text, subject matter, policy, mass media, or discourse." (Ira Shor, Empowering Education, 1992, p. 129) - also see work of Paolo Freire
So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on Critical Pedagogy:

Multiple Intelligences - "human beings have ... different kinds of intelligence that reflect different ways of interacting with the world. Each person has a unique combination, or profile." - Howard Gardner

Howard Gardner

recognizes many different kinds of intelligences.

Dr. Howard Gardner, a psychologist and professor of neuroscience from Harvard University, developed the theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) in 1983. The theory challenged traditional beliefs in the fields of education and cognitive science. Unlike the established understanding of intelligence -- people are born with a uniform cognitive capacity that can be easily measured by short-answer tests -- MI reconsiders our educational practice of the last century and provides an alternative.

According to Howard Gardner, :

"human beings have ... different kinds of intelligence that reflect different ways of interacting with the world. Each person has a unique combination, or profile."Although we each have all nine intelligences, no two individuals have them in the same exact configuration -- similar to our fingerprints. To read about the benefits of MI and for tips on implementing MI in your classroom, visit the Tips section. For additional MI resources, visit the Resources section.

Above from "Great Performances, Multiple Intelligences, Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory"

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/ed_mi_overview.html

So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on fkjfkldsljkfdjkld:

Constructivism
"The constructivist view involves two principles:

1. Knowledge is actively constructed by the learner, not passively received from the environment.

2. Coming to know is a process of adaptation based on and constantly modified by a learner's experience of the world." "… constructivism is not about teaching at all. It is about knowledge and learning. So I believe it makes sense to talk about a constructivist view of learning. And we might ask about the teaching which results from such a view of learning. …" Excerpts from "Constructivism and Teaching - The socio-cultural context," Barbara Jaworski, available as of 7/9/2007 at: http://www.grout.demon.co.uk/Barbara/chreods.htm

So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on Constructivism:

Authentic Teaching: Spirituality, Humanity, Existentialism - Focus on deeper values, deeper connections among teachers and learners, more profound goals for individuals, courses, and educational institution. Parker Palmer, Art Chickering, ....
So what? Who, why, when? Who might use approaches (why? when?) based on Authentic Teaching: Spirituality, Humanity, Existentialism approaches:

Script - Detail

Resources, References

1. Constructivism
   Constructivism Web site: Martin Ryder, University of Colorado at Denver, School of Education, see:
   http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc/constructivism.html
   http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/reflect/constructivism.html
   "Social Constructivists embrace a distributed view of knowledge. Knowledge is located neither in the mind nor in any representation of the mind. All of our understandings are situated in complex webs of experience, action, and interaction. Knowledge is a dynamic, evolving phenomenon, a fabric of relations in which one individual is fundamentally entwined with all others in a community. This [Web] page illustrates that woven fabric of knowledge. Each of the following sites links to the Constructivism site here at U.C. Denver. The UCD page serves, not as a hub, presuming some privileged position within the discourse, but as a conductive thread, one of many fibers which transforms a collection of unique sites into a common woven text. This Corollary page returns a thread to each of the common sites, strengthening possibilities for subsequent queries within this collective fabric.
2. Seven Principles & Classroom Assessment Techniques & POD Network & NISOD
   "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Higher Education," by Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson (1986); original article and related resources from the TLT Group.
   Classroom Assessment Techniques, by Tom Angelo and Patricia Cross, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1993. Click here for excerpts
   Low-Threshold Activities and Applications (LTAs), http://www.tltgroup.org/LTAs/Home.htm
3. Cognitive Science Applied
   How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning, by John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking, editors; With additional materials from The Committee on Learning Research and Educational Practice, M. Suzanne Donovan, John D. Bransford, and James W. Pellegrino, editors; Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education of the National Research Council; National Academy Press, 2000, ISBN: 0-309-07036-8 - Informative summary/review from New Horizons for Learning
4. Bloom's Taxonomy
   Bloom B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc. ;
   Krathwohl, D. R., Bloom, B. S., & Masia, B. B. (1973). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, the Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook II: Affective Domain. New York: David McKay Co., Inc.;
   Also see Wikipedia entry (as of 7/7/2007) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_Taxonomy
5. Technology and Teaching - Learners'' First Encounters with Content, Focus on Assignments
   "Teaching Well Using Technology: A Faculty Member’s Guide to Time-Efficient Choices That Enhance Learning," Created by: Barbara Walvoord, Kevin Barry, Assistant Director and Thomas Laughner, The John A. Kaneb Center for Teaching & Learning, University of Notre Dame ca. 2004
6. Dewey: Progressivism, Pragmatism, Democracy
   "500 Word Summary of Dewey’s 'Experience & Education'", James Thomas Neill, Centre for Applied Psychology, University of Canberra;
   John Dewey, Experience and Education, 1938; also see Wikipedia entry (as of 7/07/2007) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dewey
7. Instructional Design - Wikipedia Entry (as of 7/7/2007) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructional_design
8. Encouraging Authenticity & Spirituality in Higher Education, by Art Chickering et al. - same Chickering as developed 7 Principles
   Parker Palmer, various books.

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Script - Detail

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Resources, References

1. "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Higher Education," by Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson (1986); original article and related resources from the TLT Group.
   
2. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, Committee on Developments in the Science of Learning, by John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking, editors; With additional materials from The Committee on Learning Research and Educational Practice, M. Suzanne Donovan, John D. Bransford, and James W. Pellegrino, editors; Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education of the National Research Council; National Academy Press, 2000, ISBN: 0-309-07036-8 - Informative summary/review from New Horizons for Learning
3. Bloom B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc.
4. Krathwohl, D. R., Bloom, B. S., & Masia, B. B. (1973). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, the Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook II: Affective Domain. New York: David McKay Co., Inc.
5. "Teaching Well Using Technology: A Faculty Member’s Guide to Time-Efficient Choices That Enhance Learning," Created by: Barbara Walvoord, Kevin Barry, Assistant Director and Thomas Laughner, The John A. Kaneb Center for Teaching & Learning, University of Notre Dame ca. 2004
   
6. Also see Wikipedia entry (as of 7/7/2007) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_Taxonomy
7. "500 Word Summary of Dewey’s 'Experience & Education'", James Thomas Neill, Centre for Applied Psychology, University of Canberra
8. John Dewey, Experience and Education, 1938; also see Wikipedia entry (as of 7/07/2007) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dewey
9. Instructional Design - Wikipedia Entry (as of 7/7/2007) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructional_design
10. "Constructivism" Web site, University of Colorado at Denver, School of Education, On this page: "All links verified July 02, 2007"
    http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/reflect/constructivism.html
    

Medieval Help Desk

Great accompaniment to Support Service Crisis 2.0

Skills and beliefs of Superlative Faculty (Teaching Online)

If you've known me for a while, you may well have heard me rave about an unpublished 1981 study by Carol Schneider (now with AAC&U), George Klemp (now with Cambria Consulting), and Susan Kastendiek (University of Chicago) The study is called "The Balancing Act." I liked its methodology and the vivid contrast it draws between the beliefs and skills of faculty who were widely seen as superlative teachers and a second set of faculty who were equally known to their peers, administration and students, but who were seen as average teachers. Unfortunately, until now, there's been no way for anyone to read the study, which was a typed report from the University of Chicago. I hadn't had a copy myself for 20 years.

Now, thanks to Susan Kastendiek, we have linked a pdf of this study to this page suggesting that someone study the skills of faculty members who are great at teaching online. This page (describing the topic and suggesting a methodology) is part of a larger collection of ideas for dissertations and grant proposals in our Flashlight Evaluation Handbook.

If the findings from such a study of faculty teaching online are anything like that of the 1981 Schneider, Klemp and Kastendiek study, they should provide useful insights for both hiring and faculty development.

Hint: the pdf is likely to appear sideways so use the control bar in your reader to give the text a clockwise turn. Then it's easy to read without twisting your neck!

PS My connection to all this: I was a program officer with the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), the Federal program which funded the project. The project was designed to promote educational quality in programs designed primarily for non-traditional learners – learners, since 1981, have become the new majority in higher education.

Curriculum as "Exercise Field" for Human Development

Excerpt from “Turning Water Into Wine: Giving Remote Texts Full Flavor for the Audience of Friends” Journal of College Teaching (forthcoming Spring 2005), by Marshall Gregory, Butler University

http://www.marshallgregory.com/rPed1.htm as of June 27, 2007

"My point is that teachers who love specific kinds of content often misrepresent the kind of usefulness that content will have for most of their students. Mostly, students do not get educated because they study our beloved content. They get educated because they learn how to study our beloved content, and they carry the how of that learning with them in the world as cognitive and intellectual skills that “stick” long after the content is forgotten. In short, the curriculum is not an end in itself. Curricular content is a means to human development. The curriculum is the playing ground, the exercise field, for the development of those human capacities that tend to distinguish human beings as such, and the fullest possible development of which defines the true ends of a liberal education. . . .

"If these are the capacities that mark human beings as such, then these are the capacities that students bring to the table of education, and they are also the capacities the expansion, empowerment, and completion of which constitute the educational end that teachers work toward, or should work toward. Since the failure to develop these capacities constitutes a kind of existential deprivation, the same way that blindness or the loss of a limb, for example, constitutes a physical deprivation, it is appropriate for teachers and students alike to view the kind of education which focuses primarily on the development of basic human capacities as an existential need, and to view curriculum and pedagogy as the primary means of fulfilling that end, or need."

"Paris je t'aime" and Brief Hybrid Workshops

"Paris je t'aime"
18 brief movies (average 6 minutes, many less than 5) one after another, each filmed in Paris, each a complete episode, each having something to do with Paris and with love. The directors, actors, crews had no other obvious limitations and the composite they achieved together is funny, surprising, poignant, and memorable.

Wikipedia (June 24, 2007):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris,_je_t'aime

Official Web Site (June 24, 2007 - according to Wikipedia):
http://www.firstlookstudios.com/pjt/
Watch the trailer! (Just under 2.5 minutes)

The trailer is charming, and only slightly dilutes and misrepresents the quality of the entire movie. Can't blame them too much for trying to use the popularity of Natalie Portman's face as the beginning of the trailer, but this movie absolutely does NOT dwell on her face or any other easy option. Together, the 18 clips offer glimpses and insights into many more dimensions of love than suggested either by the trailer or by my own expectations of what could be done by these filmmakers under these limitations.

When Sally told me she wanted to go to a movie last night and that this was the one, I reluctantly overcame my end-of week lethargy and joined her. Especially after she told me she had already purchased the tickets online. We were a little later than we liked arriving at the theater (parking on a beautiful, warm summer night in Bethesda Maryland was challenging).

Sally went in to get our seats while I waited in line to buy the largest popcorn bag and some bottles of water - and I thought several times about when I would get to the restroom. I decided that I would try to last through the section with Juliette Binoche (one of my favorites - especially since seeing her in Blue) and then would slip out to the bathroom. I didn't expect I would much mind missing one or two episodes.

I joined Sally in the theater just in time for the beginning. Juliette Binoche was not in the first few. But I never thought again of leaving my seat. Each clip was complete. Some were quite funny. Many were poignant. Some were powerful, memorable, surprising.

In the last year I've become obsessed with the educational potential of "Brief Hybrid Workshops" - combinations of brief "eClips" with face-to-face or online synchronous interactions. By "eClips" I mean multimedia recordings available via the Web. We're combining the new power, availability, ease of use, and low price (much free) of new tools and resources for producing and publishing eClips with Todd Zakrajsek's idea of "5-Minute Workshops". Visit our growing set of ideas and resources and links to some great examples about Brief Hybrid Workshops at http://www.tltgroup.org/tlt5.htm

"Paris je t'aime" demonstrates the remarkable variety and power of what can be communicated in a few minutes by talented people. I don't expect that our educational "brief hybrid workshops" can often achieve anything close to this level, nor do we need to. But if we move even a little in this direction, we will achieve a lot!

I hope you will be inspired - not daunted - by the quality and variety of episodes in "Paris je t'aime," to join our work on Brief Hybrid Workshops.

Please send more examples of brief, effective "eClips" or ideas for using such things for educational purposes - especially to help with enabling and encouraging faculty members to take advantage of new opportunities to improve teaching and learning with technology.

Send to gilbert@tltgroup.org or, better, add a comment to this posting - click on "comment" below. Please include your email contact info so that we can invite you to introduce your idea in one of our online sessions!

Sally and I are going to return to see "Paris je t'aime" again soon - maybe tonight.

Hope you enjoy it, too - soon!

SteveG

Improving Large Enrollment Courses - Issues?

Some years ago, Ron Bleed of the Maricopa Community Colleges pointed out that a few multi-section large enrollment courses accounted for a surprisingly large share of his colleges' enrollments. It's likely that, at many institutions, these courses (often introductory) are also crucial for whether students become increasingly engaged, or leave the institution.

Large enrollment courses have been at the focus of institutional efforts to improve quality and retention while controlling costs for a long time. Textbooks and lecture halls were early strategies for putting more students in reach of a teacher while, ideally, investing at least some of the savings in assuring that the instructional message was unusually engaging. The Open University in Great Britain developed an even more capital-intensive strategy to enable huge numbers of adult learners across the country, and around the world, to get a quality education at a time when few dollars per student were available to pay the price; their strategy has worked well. In the 1980s and 1990s, Annenberg/CPB invested of millions of dollars into this industrial model (capital investment that could improve quality and accessibility while lowering operating costs): the result included pioneering course materials such as "French in Action" and "The Mechanical Universe." The National Center for Academic Transformation has been a leader in collecting some technology-enabled approaches to redesign. Initiatives such as these have drawn attention because they've had money to solicit proposals and because of their uses of technology.

As I learned while a staff member at Annenberg/CPB, this capital intensive strategy has real potential for improving large enrollment courses, and equally serious limitations. The instructional materials embody the time, place, culture, and teaching approach of their designers, so they are vulnerable to change. Institutions and funders sometimes buy into this strategy because they assume that the high start-up costs can be amortized over 5-10 years of students. Then they're often dismayed to find that expensive upgrades or rebuilding of materials are needed because of changes in the discipline or world events, changes in underlying technology, or simply changes in who's in charge.

Another family of strategies for improving large enrollment courses are less vulnerable to these changes because their initial startup costs are lower than the capital intensive strategies. Some of these are 'cellular' - they increase interaction among very small groups of students (e.g., pairs of students) even in lecture courses of several hundred students. Personal response systems have been quite useful for that purpose. Another, less technical strategy, is to divide a large enrollment course into sections by the educational aims of the students, e.g., dividing a biology course into sections for premeds, prenursing, engineers, teacher ed majors, and so on; each section might use similar materials but their instructors would be prepared to lead discussions and give assignments tailored to the needs of that particular type of student.

Another family of strategies aims to improve the whole large course. For example, some faculty make exceptional use of diagnostic assessment approaches such as Classroom Assessment Techniques (Cross and Angelo). For example, a faculty member might do a diagnostic assessment of students as they enter the course, looking at their needs, goals, or even their personalities. Using the results the faculty member assembles a group of students, and meets with this group every week to discuss the events of the previous week, and plans for the next week. A few of the students in the group are chosen because they are typical of the whole class. The rest are chosen because each of them, in a different way, exemplifies a type of student who is unusual in the larger course. In other words, this small group of students is selected to represent the full diversity of the learners in the large course. The faculty member uses this group to see how the course is working for each of them, and all of them, and to discuss ways of making the course more effective for all of them. The approach, originally developed by Joseph Katz and Mildred Henry of SUNY Stony Brook, is called Paideia.

What families of approaches have you tried, or seen, for improving learning in large-enrollment courses (courses with 100+ students in one or more sections)?

What is Your 8th Principle?

What is the 8th Principle for Improving Undergraduate Education? Caring, Authenticity, Loving to Learn, Reflection...?

FridayLive! June 15, 2007 2PM EDT
Online Registration - free, but required in advance

Moderator: Steven W. Gilbert, President, TLT Group

Guests: Karen Casto, Kathleen Young, Western Wash. Univ.

We're not really proposing to extend the classic Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, but we do hope to engage people in thinking about what they might add to make the original seven more applicable to themselves, to these times, to their own experience, to their own institutions.

I've already used this activity quite successfully on some campuses, and I've begun to collect some interesting nominations for 8th Principles: Caring, Authenticity, Loving to Learn, Reflection, etc.
What are your suggestions? Click here to add your nomination for an 8th Principle.

In this June 15, 2007 FridayLive! session I'll be leading a discussion - both online and involving anyone who joins me on the Earlham campus.

We'll begin with a very brief review of Chickering & Gamson's Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. We'll "play" a couple of pre-recordings (each less than 5 minutes) of comments that might inspire a variety of new "nominations" for the 8th Principle. This session is intended to provide and demonstrate a way of inviting people to think more deeply than usual about their own values, priorities and goals for education, for teaching and learning - and the role of technology.

One of the remarkable "clips" we'll play is "Attending Genocide Conference" by Kathleen Young of the Anthropology Dept., Western Wash. Univ. "http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/showcase2005/young/showcase3.htm" - about 4.5 minutes. Young describes taking some of her undergrad students to the International Genocide Conference in Sarajevo in 2005. The video-recording is embedded in a Website and related portfolio of materials (including student essays both text and photographic). See one of the student essays by clicking on "Because I was there" at http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/showcase2005/young/default.htm.

Another clip - perhaps an even more personal comment - "How I came to teach the holocaust" - a 2.5 minute YouTube eClip produced by Cayo Gamber, Univ. Writing Program, Geo. Wash. Univ.

I hope you'll be joining one of the activities described above!

Steve Gilbert

Constructive Criticism - Podcasts, eClips, Hybrid Workshops

Helping Colleagues Improve Podcasts, eClips, and Brief Hybrid Workshops

Guidelines for:
1. Author/originator who is going to ask someone else for constructive feedback
2. Someone who has been asked to give helpful feedback

Google Document - where we're building lists for guidelines (send email to star@tltgroup.org if you would like to be added as a "collaborator" so you can edit; otherwise, if you wish to add a comment, do so at the bottom of this blog posting)
Web Page - for same topic

Thoughtful comment from Cindy Russell, UTHSC (visit her valuable blog, web pages!):

Some of what I started thinking about as I looked at the above (comprehensive, certainly) is that beauty/evaluation is in the eye of the beholder. Too many words for some are not enough for others. Evaluators are crucial to select correctly - but evaluators can't be all like the developer of the clip. If they are, then the thoughts may be too similar and there won't be sufficient diversity in the evaluative comments. I wonder if part of what I'm struggling with is how many different versions/variations on the delivery of material we need. Not the difference between a YouTube and a Google video. But the difference between a video, a text page (with and without screenshots), audio only, a website with additional links, etc... There will always be "power" users who just need a bullet-pointed list of items and they're good to go. There will always be some folks who need the very complete version - and still want more. I struggled with this when I created the Audioclips site (http://technology-escapades.net/?q=node/22). And I still think I need to do something different with the content.

One of the things that I also struggle with is the narrative overload of a lot of what we do. It's a real challenge. I think it can be a turnoff for some people as they may think "if it takes that many words to say it, then it's too complex for me." While I'd never want to prevent anyone from entering any portion of a site that they wanted to explore, sometimes I think it can be overwhelming to people and then they stop instead of doing something more/different. Solutions????? -CynthiaKRussell 6/9/07 8:24 AM

Quick Start - Introduce Yourself - Self-Introducing eClips - Fundamental Questions (4-min audio incl.)

Play Steve Gilbert's sample self-introducing 4-minute eClip. Produce your own by using the Quick Start directions or other supportive materials. Add the URL for your own version as a comment to this blog posting - see below! Note that by doing this you are making your info accessible to anyone who might stumble upon it in the Internet, so please don't include anything that you don't want "public."

I look forward to "meeting you" or getting to know you a little better through your first eClip!

Steve Gilbert

NOTE: MORE DETAIL THAN YOU PROBABLY WANT OR NEED ABOUT HOW TO LEAVE A COMMENT HERE
To be sure we receive your comment, click on one of the options below the box in which you entered your comment. Then type in the letters that you see in the weird script in the most obvious place - the "word verification" box. THEN CLICK ON "LOG IN AND PUBLISH" - DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE "LOG-IN" PART. You do NOT need to have a Blogger account to leave a comment. If you wish to comment anonymously, click in the circle to the left of that option. If you want to avoid getting a Blogger account, but want to indicate who you are, add your name and contact info WITHIN your "comment" and then choose the "anonymous" option.

PowerPoint - Useful How-To References for Educators

Most people in higher education already have access to and some experience with PowerPoint, although most have not gone deep enough into PowerPoint's capabilities to realize what a powerful, rich tool it is. Please click on "comments" or "post a comment" just below this posting to leave your suggestions for other resources about good educational uses of PowerPoint. See more detail than you probably want or need about how to ensure we receive your comment/suggestion at the very end of this posting in italics. Thanks for your help! Steve Gilbert

Here are some useful references (URLs working well as of 6/2/2007) about how to use PowerPoint for educational purposes:

• "STEVEN BELL'S PowerPoint and Presentation Skills Resource Page"

• "Improving Your Use of Presentation Software: A Flashight Resource" from Steve Ehrmann, the TLT Group

• "Evaluating Student PowerPoint Presentations" from Claremont McKenna College Teaching Resource Center

• TFPL Blog Posting "Using PowerPoint"
• "5 Things About PowerPoint" by Russell Davies. 8.5 minutes YouTube video. You'll know immediately whether you find this very home-video style charming or irritating. I found it charming, esp. when Davies young son Arthur introduces himself. More important, several solid suggestions about planning a PowerPoint presentation - including the idea of "cutting it in half" when you're near the end of your editing process. - Steve Gilbert 6/2/2007
• "Active Learning with PowerPoint" from U. Minnesota Center for Teaching and Learning. Much of this is really good BUT PLEASE DO NOT CONTINUE THIS PRACTICE OF HAVING THE MEDIUM CONTRADICT THE MESSAGE! Lots of ideas, references, "tutorials". Note that most of the tutorials are brief talking head video clips with some audio "clipping" - and some appear to have been made with the speaker standing in the corner of a men's restroom. No examples of PowerPoint USED! Why would thoughtful, helpful people produce materials that are almost entirely either straight text (Web pages), lists of references, and low-quality talking head videos WHEN THEY ARE TRYING TO TELL US ABOUT HOW TO USE POWERPOINT FOR ACTIVE LEARNING?

NOTE: MORE DETAIL THAN YOU PROBABLY WANT OR NEED
To be sure we receive your comment, click on one of the options below the box in which you entered your comment. Then type in the letters that you see in the weird script in the most obvious place - the "word verification" box. THEN CLICK ON "LOG IN AND PUBLISH" - DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE "LOG-IN" PART. You do NOT need to have a Blogger account to leave a comment. If you wish to comment anonymously, click in the circle to the left of that option. If you want to avoid getting a Blogger account, but want to indicate who you are, add your name and contact info WITHIN your "comment" and then choose the "anonymous" option.

CheatSheet for LecShare Pro
Begun 3/29/07 Steven W. Gilbert
All other contributions, amendments welcome!

Intro

I've just begun using LecShare Pro - recommended by Norm Coombs - and I'm VERY excited about some of its capabilities and features.

• Basically, it supports attaching audio files to PowerPoint slideshows.
• It is VERY easy to use. It is inexpensive.
• It almost forces the user to make the result accessible to those who use screen reader software and/or have visual disabilities.
• It enables automatic production of several different versions in a variety of useful formats for display and use on the Web or distribution.

Help/Support

Help files for LecShare can be found at http://www.lecshare.com/help/index.html

Steve -- for newbies like me, we might want to include a basic intro on all our CheatSheets that included answers to questions like: 1. How much does it cost? 2. Where do I get it? 3. How much memory will it take on my machine (if any)? 4. Any danger of it bringing in viruses? 5. Maybe-- we want to give it a "learning curve" ranking -- easy climb, moderate grade, steep?? (BH) Great suggestions Bonnie! (swg)

However, like most software, I'm finding I need to learn a few "little" things to enable me to use it smoothly and quickly. Hence, I'm beginning another of our CheatSheets - as a Google Docs document so others can help develop this. The goal is NOT to reproduce help and FAQ services avail from LecShare. But we can provide a summary (list) of what issues are covered in the HELP material. See Google Docs format. (BH) yes! Ideally, I'd like to end up with a version of this CheatSheet that can easily be printed on a single standard sheet of paper for easy reference. I hope you will try LecShare, and add your own findings and recommendations to this CheatSheet.

Thanks,

SteveG

PS: I'm including Greg Kraus from LecShare as a collaborator on this document because he has already been so helpful enabling me to produce MP3 files!

Questions (Post a Questions here:)

1. Question: Should we include info here about using LecShare Pro to produce a file that can be uploaded into YouTube and what then becomes possible?
   See examples of YouTube usage based on export file results from LecShare Pro : http://www.tltgroup.org/TLT5.htm#Learning%20Space
   E.g., You can use the exported MP4 file NOT the QuickTime HTM file...
   Here's what the code for an inserted "screen" from YouTube looks like - can be pasted almost anywhere on a Web page; size is determined by the 2 pairs of numbers and to change the size you should change both sets in the same way at the same time (e.g., from two pairs of 400 & 300 to two pairs of 300 & 280; try to keep the ratio about the same)

• Here's a sample of a link to the file in YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjeJZEpegac00
• Here's a sample of the code to insert to get the little screen to show up on the iVoc "this week" page (smaller screen than last time - on purpose)

<object width="300" height="280"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZjeJZEpegac"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZjeJZEpegac" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="300" height="280"></embed></object>

Safety First - Changing Slides, Audio AFTER Creating Slideshow with LecShare Pro
Safest way to make changes in individual slides or individual audio clips AFTER using LecShare Pro to create a synchronized slideshow seems to be
1. start with a fresh PPT file
2. make changes to individual slides - including deleting and re-ordering as well as adding new ones
3. edit any audio clips that are going to be imported/synchronized
4. begin using LecShare Pro. Open the PPT file. Import any new versions of the audio to the specific slides.

What LecShare Pro does to/with audio
When you begin to create a new LecShare Pro audio-narrated slideshow, the first step is to open a PowerPoint file from within LecShare Pro (> File > Open). When LecShare Pro opens that file, it automatically creates a new file with the same name as that PowerPoint file, but with the extension ".mov" instead of ".ppt". The new file is automatically placed in the same folder as the original PowerPoint file. From this moment forward, all editing info and adjustments made by using LecShare Pro are stored as modifications to the .mov file and/or the .ppt files with the same name. Regardless of whether you record new audio within LecShare Pro or import audio files from elsewhere for this new narrated slideshow, the sound that will be heard by anyone "playing" the resulting slideshow is stored within that .mov file.

Note: seems that there are only 2 import options: One file for the entire slideshow OR one file for one slide. I don't think it is possible to import one audio for 3 slides... but ...???

Clearing Changes that LecShare Pro Makes to a PowerPoint File
As soon as you begin taking any action at all with LecShare Pro after using it to open a PowerPoint file, it begins making modifications to that file. If you might want to do something else with that PPT file, it is a good idea to make a copy of it which you save in a different folder. To be completely safe, save it with a different name. Do that BEFORE you begin using LecShare Pro on it. [Greg: Maybe LecShare Pro should remind/prompt users to do this or make it happen automatically as part of the process of opening that PPT ]file.
There is a "Clear PowerPoint" option under the "Edit" menu in LecShare Pro. Click on that and choose which of the kinds of info that were created by LecShare Pro WITHIN that PPT file should be removed. If you clear everything, the PPT file returns to its original condition (truly?).

Being Careful About Synchronization of PowerPoint and .mov files

LecShare Pro modifies the PPT file and creates a .mov file so that each includes info that is essential to the synchronized result.

Therefore, doing anything likely to change that info in one of the files without changing the other accordingly can disrupt the synchronization (and changing the location or name of one of the files will also be disruptive). This means that making changes to either file OUTSIDE of LecShare Pro can be risky. LecShare Pro can detect when the .mov file is no longer located where it was originally and LecShare Pro tries to guide the user to find that file in its new location and enable LecShare Pro to remake the connection. NOTE: The user may find that LecShare Pro SEEMS to be asking to locate an audio file with a peculiar name - but what it really wants is the location of that original .mov file. (truly?)

Multiple Versions of Presentations

- Each a modification of the same original PowerPoint file with different narration

If you know ahead of time that you are going to be making multiple versions of a presentation, each with different audio, it would be best to make a copy of the PPT file before adding any audio. You could add the accessibility info in first, save it and make copies of it, then open each one to add in the appropriate audio files.

Finding Individual Audio Clips Associated with Each Slide
Whenever you decide to create the files that enable others to "play" this slideshow, you use the > file > export options. If you select the "HTML" as one of options for export (you can have LecShare Pro export as many of the 4 options as you like at the same time!), then LecShare Pro will create an individual mp4 file for each audio clip that has been recorded or imported for each slide. I.e., if you have 18 slides and each has some audio via your work in LecShare Pro, then within the folder labeled "audio" buried down in the folder labeled "html" there will be 18 mp4 files numbered from 1 to 18. Those numbers indicate which slide that audio clip is synchronized with.

Editing audio files for LecShare Pro
You can use the conversion technique described below to change the MP4 files that you find within the "audio" folder within the exported "html" folder into MP3 files. Audacity (free, moderately easy to use, effective audio editing software) can then be used to edit the MP3 versions. If you now return to LecShare Pro, open the same PowerPoint file within the same location that you were working on already (so that LecShare Pro finds both the PPT and MOV files in the same folder) you can now go to any individual slide and import the edited MP3 audio file. LecShare Pro seems equally adept at importing audio files in either MP3 or MP4 for this purpose. LecShare Pro will automatically adjust timing so that the new audio file imported for a specific slide will have that slide displayed while that audio clip is being heard - no shorter, no longer. The audio that had previously been saved for that slide within the MOV file will be deleted and replaced by this process.
NOTE: Converting the MOV file itself into an MP3 file produces a complete audio-only version of the slideshow - suitable for use in podcasting, etc.

Revising a Slideshow Already Created Using LecShare Pro

To avoid some messiness, put the PowerPoint slides in a new folder with a name different from the folder in which the LecShare-created files have been stored. Move or copy into this new folder any audio files that you intend to import into the new version of the slideshow. My guess is that to be really safe, only use audio files that are MP3 or Wave format. I'm going to try to learn more about the requirements for minor modifications so that I won't have to go through this entire re-development effort.

Converting audio produced when using LecShare into MP3 format using iTunes
It can be difficult to find and use ONLY the audio portion of some of the files created when you export the final result of your work in LecShare Pro. If you need an audio-only MP3 format file version of your work for any reason, this clever use of a well-hidden feature of iTunes will do the job! (Thanks to Greg Kraus from LecShare for this info E.g., for use in a "traditional" audio-only podcast; e.g., put the MP3 file on the Web and insert a link to that file in the title area of a Blogger blog posting to automatically create a podcast available in iTunes, etc. - requires setting up Blogger, iTunes account, use of FeedBurner, etc.)

iTunes can do an mp3 conversion
PREPARING ITUNES

• Open iTunes on your own computer
• Go to: Edit > Preferences > Advanced
• Click on the “Importing” tab

Under “Import Using”, select “MP3 encoder”.
[This will allow you to see the “Convert Selection to MP3” option later.]

USING ITUNES CONVERSION TO MP3 CAPABILITY

• Copy audio recording file produced by/within LecShare Pro [see below for hints about finding, identifying this file.]
  
• Open iTunes
• Open to the Music section of iTunes - where your own music and other audio-only files are listed within iTunes
• Select: File > Import
• Browse to the copy of the audio recording file that you made
• Select the copy. Import it into iTunes.
• The name of the copy should now appear in your list of music/audio files within iTunes.
• Right click on the name of that file WITHIN your iTunes music/audio list.
• Select & click on the “Convert Selection to MP3”
• That should produce another copy of the same file within your iTunes music/audio list.
• Make sure you can tell which of the 2 versions is the MP3 version (when you look at "info" about the file it will probably say something about mpeg format and have a numeral "3" somewhere in the info. It will definitely NOT be the same format as the audio file that you copied.)
• Copy this new file.
• Paste this file wherever you want to save it on your own computer.
• Check its properties to be sure it is now an MP3 file - it most likely now has an " .mp3 " extension, and that is confirmation enough!

NOTE: The only slightly tricky aspect of this process is identifying the correct audio file within the stuff that LecShare Pro can produce as byproducts when you use it to Export to several different kinds of files.
The audio file you are seeking for this purpose is obviously NOT already an MP3 file!
Most likely it is an " .mov " file. But it is NOT a .mov file that is a full QuickTime movie.
To find the correct .mov file, try this: If your original PowerPoint file is called “biology.ppt”, there should be a file called
“biology.mov” in the same folder; that 2nd file is created automatically and immediately when you BEGIN to work on the selected PowerPoint file within LecShare Pro.

It's a treat to be working with you!

Here's my attempt to convert our most recent exchange into something we can put in the "CheatSheet". Pls answer my indicated questions and change anything I've misinterpreted or misrepresented.

Many thanks.

SteveG

Hi Steve,

I love the questions. It helps us clarify where we need to refine the

editing process so that it is more intuitive.

The audio synchronization screen is admittedly probably the least

intuitive part of the whole LecShare Pro process. There are some minor

enhancements being made to it in a very near release.

> My guess is that when I import a large audio file for

> synchronization with all slides, the process does not actually cut out

> any of the audio file. Rather, there is probably some technique by

> which LecShare Pro assigns numbers to the audio and a pair of numbers

> to each slide.

20070412

LSP = LecShare Pro

---

IMPORTING AND SYNCHRONIZING AUDIO IN LecShare PRO

Click on Audio pull down menu;

Click on Import

Click on Whole Presentation

Find and click on the audio file that you want to import and use

Click on Audio pull down menu;

Click on Synchronize

When you import audio for the entire presentation at once all of the

audio is stored in slide 1. The time stamps you see just below the image

of that slide

in the "Synchronize Audio" tray indicates what

portion of the audio is assigned to each slide. Each slide will eventually

have 2 time stamps displayed:

the top one indicates the time in seconds from the beginning of the

entire audio to the beginning of the audio clip that plays during the

display of this individual slide;

the second time stamp - below the first - for a slide indicates the time

in seconds from the beginning of the entire audio to the END of the audio

clip that plays during the display of this individual slide;

Just after importing,

slide 1 will have a time stamp of 00:00:00 and a time stamp showing how

long the movie is.

The easiest way (the simple method) to divide the audio clip is to

clear all the time stamps first.

Click on "Clear" button.

The matching or time assignment process is making a record of the

CURRENT location of a pointer within the audio file and assigning that

location to a slide as the time at which that slide will be beginning

to be displayed or ending its display interval. The CURRENT location of

that pointer is indicated by the numeric reading that is displayed within

the small window just below the right-most slide image in the slide tray.

When you double click on a slide (NOT on either of the numbers showing at

the bottom left corner of the picture of a slide) , LSP will assign the

CURRENT LOCATION IN THE AUDIO FILE to that slide as the STARTING TIME for

the display of that slide. Usually the audio player is playing

when you do this, but it doesn't have to be.

When you double click on a slide LecShare Pro will automatically assign the

time stamp to have that slide start displaying at that number of seconds after

the beginning of the whole audio.

To start things off, double click on slide 1 - that will assign the time stamp

of "00:00:00" and **the audio will start playing.**

When the audio gets to the point you want slide 2 to display, double click slide 2.

LSP will automatically assign the end time to slide 1, and the start time for

slide 2 - DIFFERING ONLY BY .001 SECONDS.

Continue this through all the slides.

FIXING TIMING MISALIGNMENTS

If you mess up, move the audio player LOCATION back some and

double click on the slide again. You

will be prompted to overwrite the current time stamp

<<GREG, I NEED SOME HELP HERE ABOUT "OVERWRITE"

- AND WHAT THE EDITING OPTIONS OF "ALWAYS OVERWRITE" AND

"ALWAYS DELETE" REFER TO. THANKS.>>

After you double

click on the last slide to assign the start time, you can choose "Done"

and the ending time stamp will automatically be assigned to the last

slide for you.

If the starting and ending times of adjacent slides get misaligned,

you can try to move the audio player back (by moving the slider and/or using the

"play" and "pause" buttons) then click the second of the two slides.

You can also try clicking on the exit time for the first slide to reassign it.

<<GREG, I don't understand the preceding sentence>>

If the preceding steps do not work to remedy the misalignment, unfortunately,

you have to press "Cancel" and start the synchronization process over again.

AUDIO TIME SYNCHRONIZATION "ADVANCED METHOD"

The advanced method lets you decide exactly when a slide starts AND STOPS

displaying. The simple method automatically makes the end time for one

slide come immediately before the start time of the next slide.

For the advanced method, say for example you have a lot of dead space

between a slide change and you want to get rid of it. You could assign a

start time for slide 1 to be 00:00:00 and an end time to be 00:25:00.

You could then make the start time of slide 2 be 00:28:00. If you do that

LSP will drop those 3 seconds between the end of slide 1 and the start of

slide 2. That 3 second audio span literally gets deleted.

Slide 1 goes straight to slide 2 with no dead space.

**To assign explicit start and end times for each slide, double click on

the start or end time stamp rather than the image of the slide.**

<<THERE WAS SOMETHING IN SOME OF THE DOCUMENTATION THAT SEEMED TO DISTINGUISH

BETWEEN SINGLE- AND DOUBLE-CLICKING. IS THAT SIGNIFICANT? IF SO, WHEN

SHOULD WE DO SINGLE VS. DOUBLE? ALSO DOES IT REALLY NOT MATTER AT ALL

WHETHER THE AUDIO IS PLAYING OR PAUSED WHEN WE CLICK ON ANY OF THESE THINGS?>>

The "pause" "play" or "stop" buttons control the playing of the audio.

These are there for convenience and are not necessary.

<NOT NECESSARY FOR ANYTHING?>

They enable you to stop the audio playback if needed. They are actually there to

assist with accessibility needs.

CLICKING "OK" when doing synchronization will reassign the audio clips to

the various slides as you've

assigned in the synchronization window up to that moment.

If there are any audio

segments not assigned to a slide they will be deleted (as in the

example with the 3 seconds of dead space). The file is saved at this

time as well and the changes are made permanent.

Before clicking "OK" none of the time assignments are permanent and

they will disappear if the file is closed in any way BEFORE clicking on "OK"

Gandhi's List: - Brief Hybrid Workshop - SUGGESTIONS

Gandhi's "Seven Blunders of the World" That Lead to Violence ...Plus 6
Activity developed and revised by Steven W. Gilbert, TLT Group.
See: http://www.tltgroup.org/GandhisList.htm

Welcome your suggestions, etc. about how and when to use this Brief Hybrid Workshop and/or the eClip within it.

Pls click on "comments" or "post a comment" just below this posting to leave your suggestions for the TLT Group's Online Professional Development Workshops about educational uses of blogs, wikis, feeds, .... Web 2.0 + Social Networking
See more detail than you probably want or need about how to ensure we receive your comment/suggestion at the very end of this posting in italics.

Thanks,
Steve Gilbert

NOTE: MORE DETAIL THAN YOU PROBABLY WANT OR NEED
To be sure we receive your comment, click on one of the options below the box in which you entered your comment. Then type in the letters that you see in the weird script in the most obvious place - the "word verification" box. THEN CLICK ON "LOG IN AND PUBLISH" - DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE "LOG-IN" PART. You do NOT need to have a Blogger account to leave a comment. If you wish to comment anonymously, click in the circle to the left of that option. If you want to avoid getting a Blogger account, but want to indicate who you are, add your name and contact info WITHIN your "comment" and then choose the "anonymous" option.

Rewards (?) for faculty, departments that improve

What a great set of comments on my previous entry about how slowly new teaching ideas spread. (that's a summary of one of the sections of our recent report on an evaluation of dissemination of five MIT-developed projects. The Exec Summary and the full report can both be found at http://www.tltgroup.org/icampus/.

In that last post, I made this shaky claim, "academic programs could do much better (in all senses of 'better') if they helped their faculty become the best at a) finding and adapting best practices from peers [at other institutions] who teach similar courses, and b) sharing their own best practices with the world."

I'll admit that I can't prove this claim, and I'm not sure if it's true. Can you suggest any examples or arguments that would either strengthen or weaken the claim?

Why do great teaching ideas spread so slowly? How can we speed that up?

Steve Gilbert, Flora McMartin (a TLT Group senior consultant) and I recently finished a $200K external evaluation for MIT and Microsoft. We studied five well-funded faculty-led development projects from the iCampus program.

• web services enabling students to use the Internet to control distant laboratory equipment in order to do experiments (iLabs).
  
• an interactive, visual approach to learning introductory physics (TEAL),
  
• a way to legally use video clips when discussing films online or doing student papers (XMAS),
  
• software for teaching computer science that involved sophisticated online homework checking (xTutor), and
  
• a new approach to managing the large-scale assessment of student writing (iMOAT). MIT allocated about 10% of its budget ($2.5 million) for dissemination. We were asked to study factors affecting adoption of those promising innovations.
  

There are about 10,000 universities and colleges in the world. iCampus has been disseminating these projects for a couple years. A naive observer might predict that, by now, that tens of thousands of faculty would be beating down MIT's doors to use each of wonderful freebies. In fact, the number of adoptions of these MIT projects, while growing, is much nearer to ten than to ten thousand. Why do even the best teaching innovations spread so slowly (when they spread at all)?

The biggest barrier: typical faculty members get little preparation, little help and little reward for continually updating and improving all their courses. The best way to improve learning is not to invent your own ideas from scratch. It's to scan the world for successful ideas already tried out by like-minded colleagues teaching comparable courses. And if faculty were better prepared, supported, and rewarded they could do that.

I'll make this claim: academic programs could do much better (in all senses of 'better') if they helped their faculty become the best at a) finding and adapting best practices from peers who teach similar courses, and b) sharing their own best practices with the world.

This kind of support would produce the biggest dividends in disciplines where the field itself is changing due to advances in research, changes in the job market, etc.. In such disciplines, rapid improvement in the academic program is more likely to lead to gains in visibility, enrollment, and respect. However, because teaching options are increasing in all fields, there is no department for which this recommendation is irrelevant.

What do you think? Is continual improvement in teaching important for your program? What kinds of support can the institution and department give faculty to help them discover, screen and adapt the best new practices from peers at other institutions? Please post your comments.

Info Lit Assessment Online Workshop May 2007

Week 1 Recommended Activity

Write an outcome for your program, drawing upon one of the 9 principles. Start with that you think most important to work on at the current stage of development of your program. You may submit your work in one of 3 ways:

1. privately by email to Anne Zald zald@u.washington.edu or Deb Gilchrist DGilchri@pierce.ctc.edu

2. anonymously - add it as a "comment" to this posting. Go to the bottom of this posting and click on "comments" or "add comment"

3. publicly - - add it as a "comment" to this posting. Go to the bottom of this posting and click on "comments" or "add comment". If you have a Blogger account, use it. If not, include your name and contact info at the end of your comment.

Nine Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning
http://www.fctel.uncc.edu/pedagogy/assessment/
9Principles.html
http://www.tcnj.edu/~assess/principles.html

OTHER RESOURCES FOR THIS WORKSHOP

Archives of synchronous sessions and other info:
http://oli.tltgroup.org/2007/spring/ILAssessment/workshop.htm

Library Instruction Outcomes: Available in Microsoft Word

Characteristics of Programs of Information Literacy that Illustrate Best Practices: A Guideline http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/characteristics.htm

Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/
informationliteracycompetency.htm

Task Force on Academic Library Outcomes Assessment Report http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/whitepapers/
taskforceacademic.htm

Principles of Good Assessment
http://planning.tltgroup.org/ILAFall2006/
Principles of Good Assessment.pdf

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Anne Zald
University of Washington Libraries